Why Did They Add Men's Lacrosse?

After a decade that saw nearly immeasurable growth around the lacrosse world — participation at the youth and high school level, bigger crowds for games and more broadcasts on television — a common chorus by the late 2000s was about the lack of growth at the DI men's level.

As the sport's primary showpiece, that there remained fewer than 60 DI teams was problematic. But then a rash of DI programs started popping up; since Jacksonville's announcement in 2008, nine additional programs have announced the formation of DI men's lacrosse. Four will begin play for the first time in 2014.

(SIDEBAR: Between roughly 2005 and ’09, Robert Morris, Detroit and Presbyterian added, Bryant and Bellarmine reclassified from DII and Butler and Presbyterian dropped their programs; a net gain, but not the groundswell — that has yet to include any backsliding — seen over the last four years. Hence the start of the timeline with Jacksonville's announcement in ’08 and first season in 2010.)

With such significant growth in the last five years (and that growth coming to fruition next season), now's a good time to analyze the causes behind this movement. Through our reporting, Inside Lacrosse has become quite familiar with many of these programs and their reasons for being. To that point, IL first reported men's lacrosse additions at Marquette, Michigan, Furman and Boston University, and has posted numerous conversations with athletic directors and assistant ADs associated with each decision.

One of the main reasons — the growing popularity of the sport — is relatively consistent among the reasons cited by all 10 programs. However, there's something interesting to be gleaned from analyzing the other three major factors that impacted each decision. Those factors are the sport's desirable social demographic (essentially that means roughly 50 well-educated young men from predominantly wealthy families in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, a demo that's especially desirable for small, Southeastern private schools), conference affiliation (particularly amid conference realignment, how an athletic department viewed lacrosse as a mechanism for strengthening its position within the conference) or source active and interested parties outside of the athletic department (mostly donors, alumni or coaches with a vested interest in lacrosse).

Below is a chart that summarizes how IL interprets each of those factors as weighing into each individual athletic department's decision. For more specifics, check out each program's description below that.

Jacksonville

As the first of the bunch, Jacksonville makes no bones about how significant tapping into lacrosse's demographic was for building the University's profile.

“Any private school is looking for ways to increase enrollment; one of the reasons for the decision is it was a way to increase enrollment,” says former AD Alan Verlander, who's now with the Jacksonville Sports Commission. He added that the role of lacrosse in Florida and the Dolphins' place in the Florida college sports scene was significant. “We were looking at trends. Lacrosse was becoming a trend — and now it's here to stay — in the state of Florida. There aren't a lot of things in Florida that the University of Florida or FSU couldn't lay claim to that we could. Lacrosse was a way for us to make a statement — we want to be the cornerstone in Florida in men's lacrosse.”

Mercer

Similar to Jacksonville in many ways, Mercer is a private college in Macon, Georgia, that was clear about its motivation to utilize athletics as a part of its growth plan as a university. Upon his hiring last August, new coach Kyle Hannan cited the administration's commitment to men's lacrosse, saying: “I didn't initially know much about Mercer, but my gosh they're doing some impressive things. The main thing that was very, very evident the minute I stepped on campus is that President Underwood and Athletic Director Jim Cole are fully supportive of men's lacrosse on campus.”

Michigan

The arrival of athletic director Dave Brandon brought a rejuvenated desire to grow to the athletic department. Club coach John Paul had both a background in athletic department fundraising and a goal of making varsity lacrosse a reality in Ann Arbor, and he understood the significant and unique challenges to adding varsity programs. Paul recently said that even if he, the club team's substantial alumni base and its fundraising prowess hadn't been in place, he thinks Brandon still would've added lacrosse, though maybe not as quickly. Michigan didn't need the type of male enrollment lacrosse provides and the Big Ten didn't offer the sport until (and in several ways as a result of) Michigan's addition, so on this list, the Wolverines are among the most significantly influenced by an external force.

High Point

As a small, Southeastern private school, High Point fit a similar profile to Mercer and Jacksonville. However, with its relative amenities and recruiting lines into lacrosse hotbeds, men's lacrosse for the Panthers was much more about addressing a fit among the existing student population, rather than accessing new prospective students. In a podcast prior to their inaugural season, coach Jon Torpey addressed how appealing the school was to many recruits.

Marquette

In breaking the news regarding Marquette's jump into men's lacrosse, consultant Dave Cottle and Big East Associate Commissioner for Olympic Sports Jim Siedliski both made mention of how significant the conference was in AD Steve Cottingham's decision. Cottle said, “Conference affiliation is huge. They want to be good. Every conversation I've had with them they've talked about wanting to try to win the Big East.” Siedliski said, “I think Steve knows what lacrosse means to the Big East in the spring.”

Furman

“Furman decided to add men's lacrosse as a strategic addition to widen the footprint of the university,” head coach Richie Meade said in early July. “Furman is very similar to many schools that already play lacrosse successfully. It was Furman's belief that lacrosse would attract more diverse types of students here. It's a healthy marriage.”

Boston University

While AD Mike Lynch was open about the prospect of adding men's lacrosse several months before announcing the program, BU's first press release for men's lacrosse led with four paragraphs outlining a $3 million gift from New Balance that would enable the construction of additional on-campus field space, which would in turn allow for the addition of men's lacrosse (which was mentioned in the fifth paragraph). While New Balance's relative external influence might've practically allowed for the addition of men's lacrosse, Lynch added that the belief BU could quickly be good contributed as well.

“Lacrosse was a sport that both [Lynch and associate AD Drew Marrochello] felt we were very well positioned to be successful in a very short time,” coach Ryan Polley said earlier this month. He added that conference affiliation, specifically BU's subsequent move to the Patriot League, solidified everything they thought about lacrosse and that grouping of schools

Monmouth

After the press release announcing the addition of men's lacrosse in March 2012, AD Marylin McNeil told IL that the infrastructure that was in place via the NEC and the presence of women's lacrosse on campus, plus the burgeoning high school lacrosse scene locally on the Shore and around New Jersey, coupled with the desire to boost male enrollment as the motivating factors to add men's lacrosse.

Richmond

Compared to the rest of the list, Richmond was most often the place-filler in the rhetorical question “Why doesn't <blank> have lacrosse?” While the circumstances surrounding Richmond's addition were most sensitive because it coincided with dropping other sports, the decision was the result of a task force that examined the fit of lacrosse on campus and recommended cutting soccer and track in addition to adding lacrosse. Coach Dan Chemotti spoke to the mindset behind that rhetorical question when he said this week, “The college felt like the sport and the University are a good fit. I've always felt like this school should be part of DI lacrosse because of the similarities between the University and so many schools that succeed.”

In addition to the task force recommendation, whispers of a substantial gifts tied to lacrosse arose in online forums and in the student newspaper The Collegian after the announcement.

UMass Lowell

After the announcement, AD Dana Skinner told IL that in moving the athletic department DI and adding men's and women's lacrosse, UMass Lowell was pursuing a goal to join the America East — which needed another member, particularly in Massachusetts, after the departure of BU to the Patriot League — and that America East emphasizes men's lacrosse among their core six sports. “Lacrosse is a popular sport right now and obviously that carried some weight with us, but honestly it was actually more about the decision to strengthen our hand with America East,” he said.

So, with all this information at hand, who's next? Check back next week as IL examines which DI programs might be the next to add men's lacrosse.